Arizona men’s tennis coach Clancy Shields has connections all over the world. The current roster for the Wildcats has players from seven different countries. One of the newcomers to the team this season is Iñaki Cabrera-Bello, a sophomore from Barcelona, Spain.
With all the recruiting Shields has done overseas, it can have a domino effect where the players he recruits help recruit other players they know from their respective countries. That was the case here as former player Alejandro Reguant mentioned Cabrera-Bello’s name to Shields.
“Alejandro kind of told me about him a year or two ago, to keep my eyes on him,” Shields said. “He started having some results and things where we were, ‘Hey this is the kid that can really help us.’
“We knew how good our team was this year, so we only really wanted to recruit people that can make an impact. When we saw what he can do and his results, we said we got to get this guy.”
Recruiting also requires building a personal relationship with players and their families. That happened quickly in this situation as Shields was able to get Cabrera-Bello on campus within a two-month span.
Prior to coming to Tucson, Cabrera-Bello reached an ITF (International Tennis Federation) ranking as high as No. 936 in the world.
Last summer he decided he wanted to play college tennis. He visited Arizona State, SMU, TCU and Oklahoma State. Despite never visiting the UA campus, it did not take long for Cabrera-Bello to commit to Arizona.
“From the moment I talked a little with Clancy and I saw his goals and that he was really into the program and into helping these boys to achieve these goals, there wasn’t a doubt to come here,” Cabrera-Bello said.
One of the aspects of playing college tennis that has surprised Cabrera-Bello so far is fan support. The stands were packed on Sunday when the Wildcats picked up a 4-2 win over San Diego.
“I didn’t know that it was that much support,” Cabrera-Bello said. “It gets really rowdy.“
Cabrera-Bello is off to a 3-1 start in singles. He has been a positive addition off the court as well.
“He has really fit in well here,” Shields said. “I think it takes an adjustment phase for everyone to get used to it, and he has done a great job. I couldn’t be happier that he is here. The guys love him.
“He is a hard worker. I was looking at his grades today in our meeting. He has got like 100% in all of his academics. He has just been an unbelievable kid for us.”
Drop shots
No. 17 Arizona (5-1) is headed on the road this weekend. The Wildcats will take on two highly ranked teams in Baylor (No. 11) and Texas (No. 6). The Wildcats have lost to Baylor each of the past two seasons, and their lone loss this season was against the Longhorns last month. “I really just want to see our guys have a chip on their shoulder this week,” Shields said. “It is so hard to win on the road. The reality is, in college tennis, home teams usually win 90% of the time. To go and win on the road, you ... got to go in and be able to do it together and play as one unit.”
Shields alluded to the Arizona women’s basketball team sweeping USC and UCLA on the road last weekend as an example of what it takes. “You have to go in with that mentality,” Shields said. “They win in two overtimes. What an opportunity to learn from our women’s basketball team, looking at how they gritted it out. We got to go on the road and grit it out against two top-10 teams.”
